The subway billboards are stark, stunning and attention grabbing.

Against a black backdrop, bright yellow letters shout:

“Burning coal is the dirtiest way we produce electricity.”

“There are no homes in America powered by clean coal.”

“CO2 emissions from coal-based electricity are greater than emissions from all the cars and trucks in America.”

The video version features a bright yellow canary dropping dead – an unmistakable stand-in for the “canary in the coal mine” that lets miners know when mine gases have become so toxic that they’re about to expire.

It’s a briliant campaign, intended to debunk the quickly growing myth that “clean” coal can solve our energy problems.

Says the sponsoring group, ThisisReality.org, “Coal cannot be called ‘clean’ until its CO2 emissions are captured and stored safely.” That’s not likely to happen any time soon. There are roughly 600 coal plants producing electricity in the U.S. Not one of them captures and stores its global warming pollution.

“Clean” coal? I don’t think so.